Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A is for Ann

The Blogging From A-to-Z Challenge is finally here!

My theme is musicians - or more specifically, the musicians I've loved throughout the years. It's not a complete list, but it is a list of the musicians who consistently rise to the top of my personal playlists.

Women claimed their place in rock and roll very early on. No one can forget the fabulous girl groups of the fifties and sixties, but the true rockers came later. The first standout was Janis Joplin, the bluesy soulful voice from Texas whose hobbies made her destined for the "gone too soon" list of the dearly departed. There was the tune-machine, Carole King - and Joni Mitchell, the earth mother of the Woodstock crowd. Don't forget the Queen, Aretha Franklin!

But the seventies were my music heyday and the beginning of my musical obsessions. Before Chrissie Hynde, Deborah Harry, Joan Jett, Madonna and Taylor Swift descended upon the airwaves, there was Ann Wilson, of Heart.

No one rocked like Ann Wilson. With her guitarist sis, Nancy, they showed us how it was done. Their harmonies were tight, their voices powerful and the music transcended genres. The sisters ruled the stage; they were no one's backup.

Say this like a true flipster:

In my day, little girls who fantasized about rockin' always imagined they were Ann Wilson. Not that I'd know anything about that...but I might just go crazy on you...

Click on the link above to visit some of the bloggers who are participating in the challenge!

58 comments:

It’s your long lost fiend [sic], Shady B. Goode, aka “The Fifth Beatle.” (On the road I always drank a fifth of whiskey to steady my nerves before taking the stage and playing electric kazoo with the Fab Four.) I missed you and now I’m back, and that’s a fack, Jack. In a number of Flipside posts you asked “Where’s Shady?” That burning question will now be answered. I am proud to announce that SDMM, the greatest lil station in the nation, is now broadcasting from our new facilities in beautiful downtown Deepfreeze, Alaska, a remote island outpost 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the northernmost point in the U.S. (When I need supplies, I hop aboard an icebreaker and make the long trip south to “the big city,” balmy Barrow.)

It is here in Deepfreeze that I will make my stand (unless I happen to be sitting down). Inspired by the current food truck craze, I intend to make a living selling sno-cones from the back of my Jeep Wrangler. With the average daily high temperature in Deepfreeze reaching only -10 F, business will surely be booming. When Eskimo children hear my bell ringing, they will sled in from all corners of the island, eager to warm their tummies with my +32 degree flavored ice crystals. In my determination to become self-sufficient, I will eat my own blubber and wring out my hair and use the oil as a source of fuel in lamps.

Thank you very much, Cherdo, for keeping a vigil for me on The Flipside while I was away. I will always remember your kindness. I just finished reading all of the Flipside posts that I missed, If you don’t mind, I would like to address one in particular. It is the post about Blogger’s new policy to crack down on offensive material and nudity, requiring blogs that contain such material to be set as private rather than public. After reading your post, I logged onto my dashboard and looked at the list of blogs I'm following to catch up on the rest of my reading. I was shocked and dismayed to find a nude picture on the blog belonging to Janie Junebug. Janie had brazenly posted, for all to see, (even young children), a photograph of Franklin without a stitch of clothing on – nude – nekked – starkers! I found the picture to be patently offensive. Can you or one of your readers please explain to me the procedure to unfollow Janie? Thank you!

Turning to today's post, Ann Wilson gets an A in my book and what a thrill it was to once again watch her and Nancy performing live on The Midnight Special. I say "once again" because I remember watching the show the night it aired. As you recall, I produced the 11 pm news at an NBC affiliate and after the Friday night newscast I typically sat in the control room with the production crew and watched Wolfman Jack and his weekly guests. Nearly a decade later the MTV style station where I worked aired the latest Heart videos in heavy rotation. They included "What About Love," "Never" and "Nothin' At All." I also used Heart's recording of "These Dreams" in one of my commercials.

Thank you very much, dear Cherdo, for the kind words you posted on my blog a couple of weeks ago as I departed for my new home. You are an A+ friend!

I've always thought that you belonged somewhere north of the Arctic Circle and now I realize it was latent psychic ability predicting your move. You didn't mention the new blubber chia snowcone - this is a great place to push your new product, so don't be shy, guy.

The Blogger announcement was kind of funny. They made their proclamation and then did an about face a few days later. I'd love to know what that was about. There's a back story here.

You can't unfollow Janie...her links are permanent. And even if she'd be okay with it, Franklin would definitely bite you over it. It's just not worth the risk. Close your eyes or use a Braille reader.

I saw The Midnight Special every chance I could! "Barracuda" was another Heart favorite of mine, in addition to all the ones you mentioned.

I can't stop laughing. Franklin nude? Ridicurous! as he would say. He always wears his fur coat. I'm trying to think of the name of a town in Alaska that's difficult to reach. Fishing is the only industry there. My ex-husband went there once. It was a shame he didn't stay. I don't remember if Ann or Nancy wrote Barracuda, but it was written after their label released an album cover that made the girls looks as if they were more than sisters. They went to an industry party, and an executive said something rude (sexual) to them. They went home and one or both of them wrote Barracuda. I love Magic Man. Willy Dunne Wooters has magic hands.

Ah, Ann Wilson... A long-ago boyfriend made me up a cassette (I said it was long-ago) that prominently featured her. I LOVED it. Thanks for the memory! (How the heck can I sign up for your bonehead blog? I have about five contributions - make that five HUNDRED - and I need to pick just one. Sigh...)

I used to rock out to Abba with my hairbrush. Such good times. If I'd only had a Karaoke machine, I'd have oodles of horribly embarrassing video to share (weren't we lucky to get to mature sans video everywhere?)Love Heart too, but I was in high school before I "discovered" them. This dancing queen took some time to mature.

I bought "Dreamboat Annie" very soon after I left Navy boot camp and loved it! I even saw Heart in concert in Hampton, Virginia and loved it, too. It was a twin bill with Cheap Trick.Yeah. I had trouble hearing for a few days.BTW, I could NEVER remember which one was Ann and which was one was Nancy.Now, I'll never forget and I thank you for that.

That album brings back a LOT of memories. All good.The end of Dreamboat Annie ("Won't be back for a while") always, always makes me think of when my ship would pass the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on its way overseas for six months.

Ann was married to writer/director Cameron Crowe. She has a cameo in one of his early movies. Nancy had a rough time for quite a while when she gained weight. She was upset because every review of their shows said she was fat instead of reviewing their music. She stayed thin when she was younger by nearly starving herself. Some people aren't meant to be skinny.

I'm an idiot. I have them wrong. Ann has the dark hair. Nancy was married to Cameron Crowe. I had a terrible night last night with repeated nightmares, but they were not about Ann and Nancy. I knew they grew up in the Seattle area because when we lived near there, they did a concert and it was a big deal because Heart was coming home. See the dog and butterfly makes me think of my darling Harper. He loved to chase butterflies.

I just watched the video. My name isn't really Goltz. I was one of the Wilson sisters, the one given up for adoption. If they hadn't given me away, I would have been up there rocking instead of changing diapers (X's, of course).

I guess it's going to include some other groups, too. (Please tell me B Is For "Beach Boys". You score double-B points if you DO tell me that.)

I liked Heart when they first came on the scene. I really dug their first hit, 'Magic Man', so I bought the album. Other songs I particularly liked on that album were the title track, 'Dreamboat Annie', and 'How Deep It Goes'.

I also purchased the 'Little Queen' LP, and their third, 'Magazine' (always liked that cover painting), but that's pretty much where my interest in Heart ended and I moved on to other stuffs.